So im at work and this user lost network connection on their PC.

I check the port settings and everything is set correct (vlan and lan/duplex speed) but shows that its not connected to a computer.

So i disable port security and I run upstairs to take a look at it. The ethernet cable is plugged in but only 1 out of 2 lights is light up for the NIC card. So i start to think, well it could be that, but there are other things to check too.


Go back downstairs and get a member of the LAN team to help me out. He brings his laptop with him and we head into the closet to check the cables. Plugs his laptop in at th closet and everything works there. Then we head to the users desk and plug in his laptop and he has connection there too. So its now the in house wiring or the eithernet cable going from port to PC. We restart the PC and plug in the ethernet cable in and still no luck. Unjoined the domain and restarted and then tried to rejoin with no success. So we both arrive that it is prolly the NIC card.

So i reimage another PC and load everything the user needs. Transfer the old PC back to our devision so we can send it out for repair and transfer in the new PC to the users devison. The new PC joins the domain and they have their network email and drives no problem.

The user had a few docs that they didnt get to save to their network drive. So i said ill bring it down to my office, burn the docs to disc and bring it back up. For ****s and giggles i plug in the ethernet cable and both lights come up for the NIC card.... log in on the admin account and it has internet access.... i was able to rejoin the domain and have intranet access as well. I can also pull up my network drives under my accoutns now as well.


WTF? Any ideas?

 

OSI model - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

sounds a bit more like things were a bit weird at the service level. When you could not join to the domain could you ping the domain controller by name? could you ping the domain controller by IP address?

If not...

Did the computer have an ip address at the time? was it assigned dynamically or did it have a static ip address..

This issue could be a million things.
-J

 

Static IP. Couldnt ping anything.

Last I know is that all was well with the user last Fri they were working and lost connection while logged in (couldnt use email or network drives).

Sucks because this isnt my work order haha.. Its someone elses but they are out sick and this manager kinda wanted to use they computer ASAP so i got sent up.

Myslef, the original assignee of the WO, and two other employees took a look at everything and we all thought it was the NIC.
Told all of them that the PC will connect/rejoin down here in our office. No one has heard of that happening before lol

 

its probably because you rebooted 3 times.

 

Did you check the event log? Maybe someone popped on the network using the same IP etc..
The complete answer is in that OSI link

 

What's the LED that didn't come on? On most NICs, there is one for activity, and one for speed. If it's getting the speed correctly (matching what's on the switch side), but no activity, then it could be a driver issue, or you may be using a rolled cable. Many of the newer NICs support auto-MDI/MDIX, so if your network guy comes to the desk and plug in his laptop with a NIC that supports MDIX, he'll get link regardless of what cable is used, whereas if the NIC does not support it, it might not work.

 

tcp/ip fluid is a little low. check the level. refill if needed...

 

wait... if you suspected a bad NIC, why issue a new machine? was the NIC built into the MB? so NO spare add-on card NICs?

 

i definitely think it is because the coffee cup holder is broken

 

^ Thats terrible

The PC is still under warranty, so any issues we just shoot em back. We've always got 30+ in the backroom to roll out haha

 

Stupid stuff like this is almost always something stupid like the cable is bad or the cable got pulled and wasn't seated right or got rolled over with a chair.

 

I would have thought so too, but we tested the cable with 3 different laptops and worked fine. Then I reimaged the same model PC to replace hers and it worked fine too.


Although yesterday I did have another call that someone lost connection. I turned port security off and went to take a look. Oh no wonder, your plugged into the B port when you're supposed to be plugged into the C port

 

thats a weird scenario.
Corrupt NIC driver maybe?

 

possible. I was kinda just seein if anyone has run across anything like that before. We put it in our backroom and might roll it out if he need to. Otherwise its under warranty for 3 years haha